And thou, son of man, take thee a brick, and lay it before thee, and portray upon it a city, -- Jerusalem
Ezekiel gets this command as a prisoner by the river Chebar in Babylon, years before Jerusalem fell. God does not tell him to preach about the coming siege. He tells him to draw the city on a lump of clay and act the siege out in public. So who is besieging whom?
The order comes to a man already in exile. The city he must draw still stands, and a king still rules it. One writer sets out the timing:
Judah's power was broken and Jehoiachin was carried away captive. But Jerusalem was not destroyed then. The king of Babylon set Jehoiachin's uncle over it and changed his name from Mattaniah to Zedekiah. He reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, doing evil in the sight of the Lord. In the end he broke his covenant and rebelled against the king of Babylon. That led to the sack of the city in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. During these eleven years Ezekiel lived by the river Chebar, a captive.
The object in his hand was ordinary and local. Older translations call it a "tile":
The word tile means "brick." The Babylonians used them to preserve their records, and many have turned up marked with building plans and so on. The sign of the tile foretells the siege of Jerusalem and Jehovah's opposition to the city.
The prophet now acts out his message instead of speaking it. Such pictures reach only part of the crowd:
Parable language appears again here. The Lord fully explains what it means, in relation to His own use of it (Matt. 13:13). It is only the remnant from whom anything can now be expected. The call of the parable is to "him who has ears to hear." And so we now have four signs, in which the prophet is to address himself to those around him.
Babylon was already at Judah's throat, so the brick could look like plain news. But the prophet is no spectator. He takes the attacker's place:
The first sign is a simple one, but how significant! God tells him to take a brick, lay it before him, draw a city on it — Jerusalem, in fact — lay siege against it, and set battering rams against it all round. Simple enough, in view of what was then threatening the people. But there is a deeper meaning. This is a sign indeed, for the prophet represents God Himself, and God is at work through these strange hostile hands of His people's enemies. There is, as it were, a wall of iron between the prophet and the city. The picture of the separation their sins had caused is not too strong. But there is more. Separation from God is never a matter of indifference to Him… If He separates Himself from the people, it is not simply to cast them off, but to lay siege Himself against them. Jerusalem is where the hopes of the people and the promises of God come together. Jerusalem is under siege, and God, seen in the attitude of the prophet, lays siege against it Himself. That is a sign to the house of Israel that should stir them to the very depths.
God calls him "son of man." The title matches where God's throne now stands:
This throne of the supreme and sovereign Lord God appears in Chaldea — the land where the prophet then lived — among the Gentiles. It is no longer seen at Jerusalem in connection with the land… So God speaks to Ezekiel as to a "son of man." That title suited the testimony of a God who now spoke from outside His people. He was no longer among them. He was judging them from the throne of His sovereignty. It is Christ's own title, seen as rejected and outside of Israel, although He never ceases to think of the blessing of the people in grace.
One writer draws a conclusion that reaches past Jerusalem to every reader:
How solemn is God's testimony about man, who is responsible to walk by the light given him! Man does not only drift further and further from God. He breaks down from the very first. Every fresh means of calling him back only proves how completely his heart and will have turned away. So no flesh can glory in His presence. May we glory in the Lord! Not the first man, but the second, has glorified God.
- Sign. God turns His prophet into a picture — a brick, a drawn city, a mimed siege. A parable calls to whoever still has ears to hear.
- Siege. Babylon is at the walls, but the prophet stands in God's place. The real besieger of Jerusalem is God.
- Separation. The iron wall between prophet and city marks the distance the people's sins had made. God does not stand behind it in indifference; He lays siege.
- Son of man. The title fits a God who speaks from outside His people and judges them. Christ bore the same title as the rejected One who still thinks of their blessing in grace.
- Second Man. The first man breaks down at every fresh call back to God. Glory belongs to the second Man, who glorified God.
and lay siege against it, and build forts against it, and cast a mound against it, and set camps against it, and place battering-rams against it round about.
Ezekiel is an exile, far from Jerusalem. God tells him to draw his home city on a clay brick and then act out a siege against it — earthworks, camp and rams — where everyone can see. Two questions follow. Why does God teach by acting instead of speaking? And who is really pressing the attack?
Ezekiel picks up an everyday object. What Babylonians normally used it for makes the sign sharper.
The word "tile" means "brick." The Babylonians used bricks to keep their records. Many have turned up marked with building plans and the like. The sign of the tile foretells the siege of Jerusalem and the Lord's opposition against the city.
Nothing in the picture is far-fetched. It is a small model of a real attack.
The first sign is a simple one — but how significant! God tells him to take a brick, lay it before him, and draw a city on it — Jerusalem, in fact — then lay siege against it and place battering rams against it all around. All simple enough, given what was threatening the people at that time.
The last item on the list is the battering ram. Its name has an odd source.
The machine used in ancient times for knocking down gates or walls. A heavy beam hung by chains, with an iron head at the end shaped something like a ram. The name (which in both passages is simply "ram") may have come from its shape. Or it may have come from the likeness of its action to the butting of a ram. It was pulled back from the wall and then swung hard against it. Ezekiel 4:2; Ezekiel 21:22.
This little siege is the first of many strange, silent performances. False prophets had already fed the people comfortable lies.
This great prophet had to do certain things God commanded, in front of the people. They were living in deception after listening to the false prophets. In chapter 3:24-26 he had to shut himself up and bind himself, and then God made him mute. Then God commanded him to lie on his right side and on his left for 430 days (4:4-8). In chapter 4:9 he had to eat unclean bread. Then he had to shave his head and beard (5:1). He had to carry a captive's baggage (12:3-7). When his wife died, he was not to mourn (24:15-20). And again he lost his speech (24:27).
A prophet pushes the model rams into place, not a Babylonian general. That is the point. God no longer speaks from inside His house. He has moved outside it.
God is with the exiles, not with the house. So He has withdrawn to His sovereign place on the Throne… He now visits Jerusalem in judgment. He acts on it from outside… So, after God brought him among them mute, Ezekiel is taken into his house and besieges Jerusalem.
God had already announced judgment on the whole nation. Now He picks out one city and sets it on the brick.
God had pronounced a general judgment on the condition of Israel. Besides that, Jerusalem now appears before the God she had despised. All the iniquity of the people lay on her, and it had come to its height. In acting out the siege of Jerusalem, the prophet was also to point out the years of iniquity that had led to this judgment.
The brick says something about man in general, not just one city. And the lesson ends by pointing away from man altogether.
How solemn is God's testimony about man, who is responsible to walk by the light God gives him! He does not only go farther and farther from God. He breaks down from the very start. And every fresh means of calling him back only proves his total alienation in heart and will. So no flesh can boast in His presence. May we boast in the Lord! Not the first man but the second has glorified God.
- Brick — Babylonians kept records and building plans on clay. God uses one as His drawing board. It announces the siege of Jerusalem and His opposition to the city.
- Rams — the fort, mound, camp and battering rams are ordinary siege gear. The warning was plain, given what was already threatening the people.
- Sign — false prophets had deceived the listeners. So Ezekiel acts out message after message: the brick, the long lying down, the unclean bread, the shaved head, the exile's baggage.
- Besieger — a prophet pushes the rams into place, not a Babylonian. God has withdrawn outside His house. He now visits Jerusalem in judgment.
- Verdict — the city carried the nation's iniquity at its height. The lesson runs wider too: man breaks down from the start, and the boast belongs to the second Man, who glorified God.
And take thou unto thee an iron plate, and put it [for] a wall of iron between thee and the city; and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it this shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
God tells the prophet to act out a war on a clay brick. Then he must set an iron plate between himself and the drawn city. The strange picture raises the chapter's real question: who is really laying siege to Jerusalem?
The "iron griddle" was not a weapon. It was ordinary kitchen equipment, found in any home.
Some of these were made of iron, as Ezekiel 4:3 mentions, and people used them for baking cakes and similar things (Leviticus 2:5; 1 Chronicles 23:29). The writer probably means the iron plates laid on the small ovens, where bread and cakes were baked.
The tile is just as ordinary — a builder's brick, the material Babylon used for its records.
The word "tile" means "brick." The Babylonians used bricks to preserve their records, and many of them turn up marked with building plans and so on. The sign of the tile foretells the siege of Jerusalem and the Lord's opposition to the city.
Ezekiel is not just predicting an army. He takes the besieger's position himself.
This is indeed a sign. The prophet stands as the representative of God Himself, and it is God who is at work through these strange hostile hands of His people's enemies. There is, as it were, a wall of iron between the prophet and the city. The picture here is not too strong for the separation their sins had caused. But there is more. God never separates Himself with any indifference, for He is the living God, always moving in the activity of His own nature. If He separates Himself from the people, it is not simply to cast them off. It is to "lay siege" Himself against them. In Jerusalem the hopes of the people and the promises of God come together. For Jerusalem to be under siege, and for God Himself — seen in the attitude of the prophet — to lay siege against it, is indeed a sign to the house of Israel that should stir them to the very depth.
So the iron plate says two things at once: it is a barrier, and it is a battle line.
Why draw Jerusalem, and not the nation at large?
God pronounced a general judgment on the condition of Israel. Besides that, Jerusalem appears before God, whom she had despised. All the iniquity of the people lay on her, and it had now come to its height.
The sign had a target. The captives were listening to voices that told them the opposite.
Nebuchadnezzar had not yet destroyed Jerusalem completely. So the captives, who had listened to the false prophets, expected a speedy return to their own land… Ezekiel also worked to break down this false hope, preached by prophets whom the Lord had not sent. He had to deliver the message that there was no hope for Jerusalem. He did it by his stern and solemn words, and by actions and symbols that God commanded.
The prophet must also set his face toward the city; older translations read "against it." The same words come back later in the book, where God shows the choice He was left with.
Not only would the Lord give the inhabitants of Jerusalem to the fire as fuel like the vine, but He would "set His face against them." And what does this not mean to those who know His name and His necessary hatred of evil!… Escape there was none, for no real repentance followed, and God was not mocked… The Lord had two options. He could accept His own dishonour by keeping Jerusalem safe even though it had turned away from Him. Or He could make them know that He is the Lord when He set His face against them. A sorrowful choice! The first could not be. So the second was the only course their sins deserved. It was the only road open until Messiah came. He bore their judgment, and so made it righteous for the mercies of God to begin again on the ground of sovereign grace.
- Picture. A brick and a baking plate, both from ordinary life, become a map of Jerusalem under attack. The exiles could see the message before they heard a word.
- Person. Ezekiel does more than describe the Babylonians. He takes God's own place in the scene, and so names the besieger behind the armies.
- Partition. The iron plate marks the separation the people's sins had made. God is not indifferent to it. He lays siege instead of walking away.
- Purpose. The sign broke a false hope. Exiles expected a quick return home, and Ezekiel told them Jerusalem had no future.
- Promise. God's face set against the city was the only road open while sin stood unanswered. Then Messiah bore that judgment, and mercy could begin again on the ground of grace.
And thou, lie upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it the number of the days that thou liest upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity.
God tells Ezekiel to lie on his left side and take the guilt of the house of Israel onto himself, day after day, with the siege of Jerusalem pictured in front of him. The command raises three questions: what "bearing" another's sin means, why 390 days, and what God was saying to the exiles who watched.
Here the prophet's own body becomes the message. One writer shows how every part of the sign points back to the besieged city.
He is to lie on his side, the left one, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. He is to bear this 390 days, each day of penalty matching a year of their iniquity... The siege of Jerusalem is, we may say, the object-lesson running through it all. As he lies under the burden of their sin, he is to bare his arm and prophesy against the city. He is not to turn from one side to the other until he has completed the days of the siege.
To bear punishment sounds like the language of sacrifice, so the phrase needs care. Older translations read "bear their iniquity", and the writers quoted here use that wording. One writer compares how Scripture uses the words for "bearing sin":
The word always used for bearing the consequence of our own or a father's sin... is not bearing it in another's place, but as a consequence falling on oneself... in Ezekiel's case he clearly did not bear it in another's place. He stood as their representative, just as in the ordinary case.
The sign worked because of the prophet's own heart. He did not act out the guilt of others as a detached performer.
Israel's sin was greater than Judah's, but Israel is seen here as a whole. The prophet does more than keep the whole nation in view. He is to identify himself with their iniquities. However little the guilty nation felt it, this godly prophet surely felt his nation's sin. He owned it before God and accepted the consequences of it. No doubt God sustained him; otherwise he could never have stayed like that for so long.
That is not unique to Ezekiel. One writer draws the same lesson for anyone who prays for God's people:
By grace, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, we must put ourselves in the place of those whose case we want to bring to God... Nothing shows the Spirit of Christ more clearly than this: sharing fully in the sorrowful state of God's people caused by their sins. It is in this way that saints may bear one another's burdens.
Commentators differ on how to count the 390 years. One reading starts when God tore the ten tribes out of Solomon's hand:
I have no doubt that a sounder view counts the 390 years of Israel from Jeroboam. It was to Jeroboam that the prophet Ahijah announced from Jehovah the gift of the ten tribes, torn out of Solomon's hand. And the forty years of Judah point to the reign of Solomon himself, which settled the ruin even of that most favoured part of the people.
Another writer starts at the same point, but applies the years to the whole nation and to the length of the siege itself:
There is no reason why the 390 years should not be years of God's forbearance with the nation as a whole. Date them from the split of the kingdoms under Jeroboam to the fall of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and we get almost exactly this length of time... It is striking also that the actual siege of Jerusalem lasted about the 390 days of the prophet's burden.
For the exiles watching, the sign looked back and forward at once.
The prophet's position reminded the captives of the shameful history of their long unfaithfulness. But there was more. The Lord told Ezekiel that He had laid the years of their iniquity on him, and that he would bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. So the sign pictured the real punishment that was now to fall on the nation.
- Years counted. Each day on the prophet stands for a year of the nation's sin. God keeps an exact record of a history the people had long forgotten.
- Sin pictured. The prophet's body becomes the sermon. He lies beside the pictured city, so the watchers see the siege and not just the guilt.
- Burden borne. He represents the people; he does not take their place. He feels and owns what their sin brings, but he does not atone for it.
- Heart engaged. He does not stand apart from the guilty. Sharing the shame of God's people is what fits anyone to pray for them.
- Judgment came. The sign was not only a picture. The punishment it showed did fall, and the siege lasted about as long as his burden.
And I have appointed thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days; and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
God tells Ezekiel to lie on his left side and carry the guilt of the northern kingdom. Each day stands for a year of that guilt. Two questions follow: which years are counted, and in what sense a prophet can bear another's guilt. (Older translations say "iniquity" here where the ESV says "punishment." The writers quoted below use the older wording.)
The number is not arbitrary. It is a tally of the history that brought Jerusalem to its siege.
God pronounced a general judgment on the condition of Israel. Besides that, Jerusalem appears before God whom she had despised. All the iniquity of the people, now at its height, was resting on her. The prophet was acting out the siege of Jerusalem. He was also to point out the years of iniquity that had led to this judgment: for Israel in general, 390; for Judah, 40.
The picture is symbolic, and objections about a man staying flat for over a year miss what the text actually asks.
In his own person Ezekiel had to experience the great degradation and judgment that was to fall on all the people. The critical school has invented all kinds of theories to explain, or rather explain away, the divine command given to the prophet. They say he may have suffered from some form of epilepsy or catalepsy. They also say no man could lie on his left side for 390 days without a break. But the text nowhere says the prophet was to be in that position day and night through those allotted days. The 390 and 40 days are symbolic. They mean years, giving a total of 430 years. This reminds us of Exodus 12:40-41, where Israel's stay in Egypt is given as 430 years.
Because the day-for-a-year measure is spelled out here, some have used it as a master key for unlocking other prophecies. One writer warns that the very explanation limits its reach:
The symbolic siege of Ezekiel is another witness called to support the system (Ezek. 4:4-9). Here again we have to note that the argument built on it is not for the dates in Ezekiel's prophecy, where it is recorded, but for Daniel and John, where it is not. From such special instances, so carefully explained, it would seem safe to conclude that a day not so applied was to be taken literally.
The words sound like the language of sacrifice, so the distinction matters. Examining how the phrase is used across Scripture, one writer concludes:
The only apparent exceptions I am aware of, and they are only apparent, are Leviticus 16:22, the scapegoat, and Ezekiel 4:4-5, 6... in the case of Ezekiel it was clearly not vicarious, but representative, and the same as the ordinary case.
Standing in for others still cost him. Ezekiel took his people's guilt on himself in feeling as well as in posture.
The sin of Israel exceeded that of Judah. But Israel is looked at as a whole. The interests of the whole nation are not only before the prophet's eye; he is to identify himself with their iniquities. The guilty nation may have felt little. Yet this godly prophet surely felt deeply and owned before God the sin of his nation, and accepted its consequences... He bore their iniquities in spirit before God, in the remarkable position these verses describe. God sustained him; otherwise he could never have stayed like that for so long.
Commentators differ on how to date the period. One reckoning starts it with the tearing of the ten tribes from Solomon's house:
I have no doubt that the sounder view counts the 390 years of Israel from Jeroboam. It was to Jeroboam that Ahijah announced from Jehovah the gift of the ten tribes, torn out of Solomon's hand. On this view the forty years of Judah point to the reign of Solomon himself, which settled the ruin even of that most favoured part of the people.
Another reading takes the 390 years as God's patience with the whole nation:
Date them from the separation of the kingdoms under Jeroboam to the fall of Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and we have almost this exact length of time... Judgment had already begun, while the long-suffering of God tempered it through all this period. It is striking too that the actual siege of Jerusalem lasted about the 390 days of the prophet's burden.
A long count of years is a long record of failure, and the record is not only Israel's.
How solemn is the testimony God gives about man, seen in his responsibility to walk by the light given him! He does not only go farther and farther from God. He breaks down from the very first. Every fresh means of calling him back only proves how completely alienated he is in heart and will. So no flesh can glory in His presence. May we glory in the Lord! Not the first man, but the second, has glorified God.
- Counted — Each day on Ezekiel's side stands for a year of his nation's guilt. The sign tallies history; it is not a random ordeal.
- Concrete — The days are symbolic. They are not a claim that a man lay motionless for over a year.
- Carried — He bears the guilt as a representative. He feels and owns his people's sin before God; he does not pay for it in their place.
- Contested — Commentators differ over what the 390 years measure: Israel's guilt from Jeroboam, or God's patience with the whole nation up to the city's fall.
- Conclusive — The long count shows man breaks down from the start. No flesh can boast; not the first man but the second glorified God.
And when thou hast accomplished them, thou shalt lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days I have appointed thee each day for a year.
God tells Ezekiel to act out his message with his own body: 390 days on his left side for Israel, then forty days on his right side for Judah, one day for each year. That raises three questions: what the days measure, which forty years are meant, and how a prophet can "bear" someone else's sin.
Ezekiel does not just speak this message. He lies down and acts it out, and the siege of Jerusalem is what the whole scene pictures.
He is to lie on his side, the left one, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel on it. He is to bear this 390 days, each day of penalty corresponding to a year of their iniquity. But this is not all. When he has finished this, he is to lie again on his side, the right one. Now he is to bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days, each day once more given for a year. Through it all, we may say, the siege of Jerusalem is the object-lesson.
Some readers insist that prophecy must always be read literally. One writer answers that two passages suggest otherwise.
Those who insist on a literal reading often raise another point, and it deserves notice — days put for years. They deny this, even though both Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6 plainly suggest the idea.
Others take this scale and apply it to prophecies where God gives no such key. One writer questions that move.
The symbolic siege of Ezekiel is another witness called to support the system (Ezek. 4:4-9). Here again we must note something. Men build an argument on it, not for the dates in Ezekiel's own prophecy, where we find the key recorded, but for Daniel and John, where we do not. Scripture explains these special cases with care. So it seems safe to conclude that a day not used this way was meant literally.
Commentators differ on which forty years Judah's days count. One writer counts Israel's years from Jeroboam, the man given the ten northern tribes, and traces Judah's forty back to Solomon's own reign.
I have no doubt that a sounder view counts the three hundred and ninety years of Israel from Jeroboam. It was to Jeroboam that Ahijah announced from the Lord the gift of the ten tribes, torn out of Solomon's hand. And the forty years of Judah point to the reign of Solomon himself. His reign decided the ruin even of that most favoured part of the people. Hardly anyone could see, under the wealth and wisdom of the king, where the idolatry then practised would lead.
Another writer puts dates to the 390 days, and points to a later king for Judah's forty years.
The 390 days probably run from the division of the kingdom in B.C. 975 to 588, the destruction of Jerusalem — 388 full years, or 390 in round numbers. "Israel," as often, stands for the ten tribes. It is not so clear what the 40 years for Judah refer to. They were for the iniquity of Judah. They may refer to the reign of Manasseh before his captivity and reformation. That reign is pointed out as the crowning sin of Judah, and the reason they were sent into captivity. 2 Kings 21:11-13.
The older translations these writers use read "bear the iniquity." So did Ezekiel carry Judah's guilt away in their place, as the scapegoat did? One writer says no.
The only apparent exceptions that I am aware of, and they are only apparent, are Leviticus 16:22, the scapegoat, and Ezekiel 4:4-5, 6. But the first is "he shall carry them into a land not inhabited," and in Ezekiel's case it was plainly not substitution but representation, the same as the ordinary case.
The sign cost Ezekiel more than time. One writer looks at what the prophet carried inside while he lay there.
The sin of Israel exceeded that of Judah, but Israel is looked at as a whole. The interests of the whole nation are before the prophet's eye, and he is to identify himself with their iniquities. However little the guilty nation may have felt it, this godly prophet without doubt felt it deeply and owned the sin of his nation before God. He accepted the consequences of it. Whether for three hundred and ninety days for Israel or forty days for Judah, he bore their iniquities in spirit before God. God sustained him, without doubt; otherwise he could never have stayed like that for so long.
- Counted — every day Ezekiel lay there stood for a year of the nation's sin. God kept the account long before He acted.
- Explained — God states the day-for-a-year scale here and in Numbers 14:34. Where Scripture gives no such key, one writer reads a day as a day.
- Disputed — some trace Judah's forty years to Solomon's reign, others to Manasseh's. The commentators do not agree.
- Represented — Ezekiel did not carry Judah's guilt away as a substitute. He stood as a sign of the judgment coming on them.
- Felt — the guilty nation felt little. The prophet felt their sin and owned it before God, and God held him up through every day.
And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
God tells Ezekiel to act out the fall of his own capital: face fixed on the model city, sleeve pushed back, words aimed at it. Two questions follow. Whose siege is this? And why must the messenger carry the message in his own body?
The iron plate and the fixed face are not stage props. One writer reads the prophet's posture as God's own posture toward Jerusalem.
This is a sign indeed. The prophet stands as the representative of God Himself, and it is God who is at work through the strange hostile hands of His people's enemies. There is, as it were, a wall of iron between the prophet and the city. The picture of the separation their sins had caused is not too strong. But there is more. Separation from God cannot happen with any indifference on His part. He is the living God, always moving in the activity of His own nature. If He separates Himself from the people it is not simply to cast them off, but to lay siege Himself against them. Jerusalem is where the hopes of the people and the promises of God come together. For Jerusalem to be under siege, with God Himself laying siege against it as we see in the attitude of the prophet, is indeed a sign to the house of Israel. It should stir them to the very depths.
Why an uncovered arm? In Scripture the arm carries a settled meaning.
The arm is the part of the body that lifts burdens and defends the person. Scripture uses it as a picture of the power and strength of God on behalf of His saints.
The bared arm belongs to a man lying still, carrying the guilt of the nation. Everything he does points at one target.
The siege of Jerusalem is, we may say, the object-lesson running through it all. As he lies under the burden of their sin, he is to uncover his arm and prophesy against the city. He is not to turn from one side to the other until the days of the siege are complete.
The sign cost Ezekiel something. He did not just announce the nation's guilt. He carried it, and not by his own strength.
He is to identify himself with their iniquities. The guilty nation may have felt little. But this godly prophet, without doubt, felt the sin of his nation deeply and owned it before God, and he accepted its consequences... God without doubt held him up. Otherwise he could never have stayed like that for so long.
The days he lay there were a count. The judgment coming on Jerusalem had a long history behind it.
God pronounced a general judgment on the condition of Israel. Besides that, Jerusalem appears before God whom she had despised. All the iniquity of the people lay on her, and it had now come to its height. The prophet acted out the siege of Jerusalem. He was also to point out the years of iniquity that had led to this judgment: for Israel in general, 390; for Judah, 40.
Commentators differ on where those years fall. One writer counts Judah's forty from a later starting point.
From the destruction of the temple to its rebuilding, according to Ezra 3:8, exactly 40 years pass. This cannot be denied. These years refer clearly to Judah, whose captivity was then at an end. Those 40 years of captivity should have convinced them where their only hope lay. Under the solemn teaching of men like Ezekiel they should have received the sentence of death in themselves, so that they would not trust in themselves, but in God who raises the dead.
The count is not just bookkeeping about one nation. It settles a question about every one of us.
How solemn is the testimony God gives about man, seen in his responsibility to walk according to the light given him! Man does not only go farther and farther from God. He breaks down from the very start. And every fresh means of calling him back only proves how far his heart and will have turned away. So no flesh can boast in His presence. May we boast in the Lord!
- Sign — the acted-out siege was a sign to the house of Israel, meant to stir them to the very depths.
- Siege — the prophet stood in God's place. The wall of iron pictured the separation their sins had made, and God Himself laid siege to Jerusalem.
- Arm — the uncovered arm pictures God's power and strength. Now it moves against Jerusalem, not for her.
- Burden — Ezekiel prophesied while lying under the nation's guilt. He made their sin his own, and God held him up under a weight he could never have carried alone.
- Count — the days measured out years of piled-up sin. Man breaks down from the very start, so no one can boast except in the Lord.
And behold, I lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thyself from one side to the other, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
God has told Ezekiel to act out the siege of Jerusalem. He must lie on his side, day after day, bearing the guilt of Israel and Judah. Now God adds cords that hold him in place until the days are complete. Two questions follow. Why does God tie His own messenger down? And what are the counted days measuring?
Every detail of the prophet's posture is part of the message. The cords come last, and they take away his freedom to move.
He is to lie upon his side, the left one, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. He is to bear this for 390 days, each day of penalty standing for a year of their sin. But this is not all. When he has finished this, he is to lie again on his other side, the right one. Now he bears the iniquity of the house of Judah for 40 days, each day once more given for a year. Through it all the siege of Jerusalem is, we may say, the object lesson. As he lies under the burden of their sin, his arm is to be bare, and his prophecy is to be against it. He is not to turn from one side to the other until the days of the siege are accomplished.
Held in one position for so long a stretch, on rationed food, the prophet could not have obeyed on his own strength.
Whether for the three hundred and ninety days for Israel, or the forty days for Judah, he bore their iniquities in spirit before God in the remarkable position these verses describe. God Himself, without doubt, held him up. Otherwise it would have been impossible for him to stay like that for so long. He could never have obeyed the strict command, "so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed the days of your siege," or lived on the scanty diet described in Ezekiel 4:9-11.
Ezekiel does not just announce what is coming. He carries it in his own body. One writer compares him to a priest who eats the sin offering and so feels the people's sin before God.
God in effect makes him an object lesson for Israel. He must himself feel the bitterness of the things he prophesies about. So here is another priest who, in a deeply practical way, "eats the sin offering." He has to feel not only the sin of God's people, but also the judgments God brings in His government against that sin.
The prophet stands in for the faithful few. In doing so, he also shows God's own attitude toward their sin.
The 390 days, a day for a year, are the time when the sins of the people are remembered. The prophet stands as representative of the godly remnant, and in this way he also shows the attitude of God Himself. All that time he has been suffering under those sins.
"The days of your siege" are a fixed total, and writers differ over what they mark. Critics have argued that no man could hold such a position at all. One writer answers them, then adds the two figures together.
They say Ezekiel probably suffered from some form of epilepsy or a trance-like condition. They also point out that no man could lie without a break for 390 days on his left side. But nowhere does the text say the prophet had to be in that position day and night through all those days. The 390 and 40 days are symbolical. They mean years, giving us a total of 430 years. This reminds us of Exodus 12:40-41, where the sojourning of the children of Israel in Egypt is given as 430 years.
Another writer ties the numbers to dates in Israel's history.
It would appear that the longer period is counted from the time the ten tribes broke away under Rehoboam. The years are counted as Israel's, because from that moment Israel existed on its own and made up the great body of the nation. Judah, on the other hand, was everything during the reign of Solomon, which lasted forty years.
The number was not only a symbol. What Ezekiel acted out with his own body matched what later happened at Jerusalem's walls.
It is striking also that the actual siege of Jerusalem lasted for about the 390 days of the prophet's burden. It ran from the 10th day of the 10th month in the 9th year of Zedekiah to the 9th day of the 4th month in his 11th year… So the reference to the actual siege of Jerusalem agrees exactly with what really happened.
- Bound — The cords stop Ezekiel from turning over. The sign must run through to the last counted day.
- Borne — He does not just predict the siege. He lies under the people's guilt and feels the judgment he announces.
- Upheld — So long a stretch, on so little food, was beyond human strength. God held him up so that he could obey.
- Counted — Each day stands for a year. Commentators differ: some read the 390 and 40 as symbols, others tie them to real reigns.
- Fulfilled — The days had a limit. The real siege of Jerusalem ran about as long as the prophet had lain.
And thou, take unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, [according to] the number of the days that thou liest upon thy side three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
God tells the prophet to bake his own bread from six different grains and beans scraped together, and to live on it for 390 days. It is not a recipe but a sermon. This is the food of a city under siege, made in public where the exiles could watch it day after day.
The sign does more than announce judgment. It puts the humiliation of the people on display in the body of the man who carries God's word to them.
The prophet must show in his own person what is coming on the people because of their sin — the shame of it as well as the judgment.
Ezekiel was a priest, and the demand made of him matches that calling — he must taste what he announces.
God makes him a living object lesson for Israel: he must himself feel the bitterness of the things he prophesies. Here is another priest who "eats the sin offering" in a very practical way. He has to feel the sin of God's people. He also has to feel the judgments God brings on that sin as He governs them.
The list is not the diet of a settled household. Beans, for example, belonged to the table of those who had little.
The common and well-known bean. It grows well in Palestine. People eat it with rice, or mix it with wheat and barley to make bread for the poor. 2 Samuel 17:28; Ezekiel 4:9.
Translations differ on the last grain in the list. The ESV has "emmer"; older versions have "fitches".
The word is taken to mean "spelt", a kind of grain like wheat. Exodus 9:32; Isaiah 28:25. The same Hebrew word in Ezekiel 4:9 is translated "fitches", with "spelt" in the margin.
Ezekiel lay on his side for 390 days and then a further forty, yet the bread is tied only to the first figure. One writer sees a real distinction there.
The prophet is to put all this mixed grain into one vessel and make bread of it. He is to eat it for as many days as he lies on his side. But notice, the limit given here is 390 days only, not 430 as we would have imagined. So there is clearly a distinction of some sort between this period and the 40 days that follow.
The same writer looks past the siege itself. The unclean bread is also eaten among the Gentiles, and that points to something worse than hunger.
This third sign shows the state of the people even more than the distresses of the siege do. It signifies the destruction of their sanctification — their standing as a people set apart. This polluted bread eaten among the Gentiles is no longer the result of being shut up inside the walls of the besieged city.
Another writer ties the famine and the unclean bread together and looks ahead.
The sign of the famine and the bread baked in an unclean way point the same way. They predict the horrors of hunger during the siege of Jerusalem. They also predict that the people would later live in defilement among the Gentiles.
The months of hard living were not a performance. Ezekiel owned the nation's sin as his own.
The guilty nation may have felt little. This godly prophet felt the sin of his nation, confessed it before God, and accepted its consequences... He identifies himself with the sin of his nation. He is ready to bear what that sin deserves, and to bear it without a complaint.
Ezekiel shielded himself from a full taste of what he was showing. That is where the sign reaches its limit.
Ezekiel is to taste, in his measure, what Israel suffers under the righteous dealings of God. This is not because he had fallen out of God's favour. The opposite is true: he was near enough to God to enter into the reality of their misery. Yet only the Son of man could go down in grace into its depths, take it up in full, and suffer to the end... Never did He shield Himself, as Ezekiel does here, from a full taste of Israel's ruined state.
- Sign — the prophet does not just announce the judgment. He shows in his own body the shame their sin has earned.
- Siege — the mixed grain is famine food — six poor ingredients scraped into one pot because nothing better is left.
- Scattering — the same defiled bread is eaten among the nations, so the sign reaches past the city walls into the captivity.
- Separation lost — the polluted bread means the end of Israel's standing as a people set apart to God.
- Substitute — Ezekiel bore his nation's guilt in his own measure, yet he shielded himself from a full taste of it. Only the Son of man went down into the depths and suffered to the full.
And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day from time to time shalt thou eat it.
Ezekiel is a captive, told to act out the coming siege of Jerusalem in his own body. Verse 10 puts him on a weighed daily ration — so why did God make His prophet go hungry in public view?
The weighed food is not advice about diet. It is one of a series of signs in which the prophet's own body carries the message.
The prophet must set forth in his own person the degradation as well as the judgment coming because of the iniquity of the people. So another sign follows.
For months Ezekiel lay bearing the guilt of Israel and Judah. He owned the nation's sin in a way the nation itself never did.
However little the guilty nation may have felt it, without doubt this godly prophet deeply felt and owned before God the sin of his nation, and accepted the consequences of it. Whether for three hundred and ninety days for Israel, or forty days for Judah, he bore their iniquity in spirit before God in the remarkable position these verses describe. He himself was without doubt sustained by God. Otherwise it would have been impossible for him to remain so long, or to live on the scanty diet detailed in Ezekiel 4:9-11.
Ezekiel's hunger was not a mark of God's displeasure with him.
In his own measure Ezekiel is to taste the condition of Israel under the righteous dealings of God. This is not because he was personally out of God's favour. It is because he was near enough to God to enter into the reality of their misery. Only the Son of man could in grace go down into its depths, take it up perfectly, and suffer to the full — far beyond anything that ever was, or can be, their portion. In His zeal for God and love for His people, Jesus alone could bear the burden.
Bread handed out by weight is Scripture's own picture of famine. The same image returns later, in the hand of a rider.
The "pair of scales" in the rider's hand recalls Ezekiel's prophecy about the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's army: "I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment" (Ezek. 4:16). It is a figure strongly suggestive of scarcity.
Older translations say "staff of bread." The ESV says "supply of bread," and "with anxiety… in dismay" for "care… astonishment."
The rationing is grim, but the sign points to something worse than hunger.
This third sign shows the state of the people more than the distresses of the siege do. It points to the destruction of their sanctification as a separate people. This polluted bread eaten among the Gentiles is no longer a consequence of being shut up inside the besieged city.
Another captive faced the same pressure over food.
Daniel resolved in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's food or his wine. He would drink water and eat vegetables, and nothing more. He kept his separation to God in the land of captivity, and he kept it according to the thoughts of God (compare Ezekiel 4:9-13). The time came when God stood by him and made him the vessel of His mind and will.
- Sign — the weighed rations were a message acted out in the prophet's own person: the coming degradation as well as the judgment.
- Sharing — Ezekiel owned before God the sin his nation would not own, and God sustained him in it. Only Jesus could go down into the depths of that misery.
- Scarcity — food handed out by weight is Scripture's own picture of famine, the same image as the scales in a rider's hand.
- Scattering — the sign reached past the siege into exile, where the same defiled bread would be eaten among the nations.
- Separation — the deepest loss is not hunger but the end of their life as a people set apart for God. Daniel kept that separation on water and vegetables, and God stood by him.
And thou shalt drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin from time to time shalt thou drink.
This verse belongs to a series of signs God tells Ezekiel to act out. A cup of water, rationed and drunk at fixed times, carried the message: Jerusalem's siege was coming, and God Himself had set the measure.
Ezekiel does not just announce the coming distress. He lives it out. One writer points to what makes this sign different: the prophet himself carries it.
Here it is a different matter. The prophet must show in his own person the degradation as well as the judgment coming because of the people's iniquity. So another sign follows.
The rationed bread and water were not a private discipline. They belonged to a long ordeal. Ezekiel lay on one side and then the other, bearing his nation's guilt before God.
In representing the coming siege of Jerusalem, God points out the years of iniquity that led to her judgment — for Israel in general three hundred and ninety, and for Judah forty… However little the guilty nation may have felt it, this godly prophet without doubt deeply felt and owned before God the sin of his nation, and accepted the consequences of it. God Himself sustained him. Otherwise he could never have stayed there so long, obeyed the strict command not to turn from one side to the other till the days of his siege were ended, or lived on the scanty diet described in Ezekiel 4:9 to 11.
The same writer gives the reason the prophet had to taste it himself.
In his measure Ezekiel is to taste the condition of Israel under the righteous dealings of God. It was not because he was personally out of divine favour. It was because he was near enough to God to enter into the reality of their misery, though only the Son of man could in grace go down into its depths, take it up perfectly, and suffer to the full.
You weigh out only what is running out. That is the force of the sixth part of a hin: a small ration, handed out at set times. The same picture turns up in a later vision of famine, and one writer reaches back to this chapter to explain it.
The black horse means mourning and dismay. Destructive wars have brought in famine. The "pair of balances" in the rider's hand recalls Ezekiel's prophecy about the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's army: "I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment" (Ezek. 4:16). It is a figure strongly suggestive of scarcity.
Two troubles run together here: too little food, and food that was unclean. One writer holds both.
Both the sign of the famine and the bread baked in an unclean way predict the horrors of famine connected with the siege of Jerusalem, and how the people in the later captivity among the Gentiles would live in defilement.
The sign points first to the siege. But it does not stop at the city wall.
The siege of the city is, on the people's part, their bearing the iniquity of the earlier time. Yet, as we know, that is not the whole matter. Scattered then among the nations that led them captive, they are in fact still bearing their iniquity before God. What we have here hints at more: the character of the siege reaches into the time that follows, for the unclean bread they eat under the pressure of the siege is to be eaten also among the nations where the LORD drives them.
This diet turns up again in Babylon, but chosen. Daniel asked for vegetables and water, and one writer sets his choice beside Ezekiel's sign.
They were at this time captives in Babylon; the need for faithfulness seemed to have passed away. Where was the profit of standing firm when all their hopes were gone? But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king's food or his wine. He would drink water and eat vegetables, and nothing more. He kept his separation to God in the land of captivity; and he kept it according to the thoughts of God (compare Ezekiel 4:9-13).
- Cause — The ration follows a count of guilt: 390 years for Israel, 40 for Judah. Ezekiel owned that sin before God.
- Sign — He carries the message in his own person. It shows the degradation as well as the judgment sin brought on the people.
- Measure — Bread by weight and water by measure is the language of scarcity. The same scales appear in the rider's hand, where famine follows war.
- Reach — The defiled bread outlasts the siege. It follows the people into exile among the nations.
- Response — Later, in that same captivity, Daniel chose water and plain food. He turned a ration of judgment into an act of faithfulness.